STEM Posted November 3, 2005 Posted November 3, 2005 HELP please. I took out my Matrox Parhelia 128 graphics card, took the spring-loaded clips off the heatsink and for good measure unscrewed the fan and removed it. The heatsink is attached to the GPU by a black rubbery gunk - it seems to be the same stuff that was attaching the heatsink on the Intel 2.4 cpu - thermal compound or paste. I used a very sharp craft blade to try to remove any excess gunk around the GPU and then used a palette knife along an edge and then at a corner to try to prise the heatsink off - UNSUCCESSFULLY. After a number of more and more forceful efforts I gave up and put the pc back together again - with a sigh of relief that I have not damaged the card! I cannot get anything between the heatsink and the processor so that the force I am applying is between them rather than between the heatsink and the connections of the gpu to the board - if you see what I mean - I am VERY nervous about applying more force - the only section which it seems at all responsible to use any force is across the contacts on the lower edge of the card. I really can't afford to wreck my expensive (for me) graphics card. Who can tell me how to remove this heatsink without damaging the card? There are lots of tiny elements (resistors/transistors?) which I dare not allow anything to touch like a slipping blade. HELP please. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
apostolics Posted November 3, 2005 Posted November 3, 2005 if u can use artick silver compound remover. its actually like citrus oil or some thing anyway the stuff smells like lemon. it will come right off. it desolves the junk fairly quik Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
IUMaestro Posted November 3, 2005 Posted November 3, 2005 absolute best i've seen - tape head cleaner (get it at radio shack or anything like it) It's Acetone/Ethanol based.. which gets nail polish off, It actually has a 0% residue versus isopropyl alcohol's .1% Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
STEM Posted November 3, 2005 Posted November 3, 2005 absolute best i've seen - tape head cleaner (get it at radio shack or anything like it) It's Acetone/Ethanol based.. which gets nail polish off, It actually has a 0% residue versus isopropyl alcohol's .1% 571303[/snapback] Thanks, I can see how this would clean the muck off when it was detached but as the gunk is such a thin layer deeply embedded between processor and heatsink surely it would take an age and almost need saturating before it got the heatsink off? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dean25 Posted November 12, 2005 Posted November 12, 2005 Thanks, I can see how this would clean the muck off when it was detached but as the gunk is such a thin layer deeply embedded between processor and heatsink surely it would take an age and almost need saturating before it got the heatsink off? 571318[/snapback] can you not just get some string between it (the stuff you use to floss should do) and use that as a string saw?. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
fire_storm Posted November 12, 2005 Posted November 12, 2005 Those alchol wipes work well to clean off thermalpaste. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kobalt Posted November 12, 2005 Posted November 12, 2005 (edited) I usually slip a plastic card between the Video card and the heat sink than i can apply more torque with a thin paint spatula between the plastic card and the hs it usually works it did even when i used a thin coat of thermal epoxy Edited November 12, 2005 by kobalt Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nVidia_Freak Posted November 12, 2005 Posted November 12, 2005 I think I know what he's talking about. It's the sort of thermal compound that held the heatsinks onto the old Voodoo cards. It's nearly impossible to even make it move, it doesn't do any good to use a card to 'try' and pry it off, or anything for that matter, it's like cement. I had an old card that came out of one of the first Dell XPSs, and it had the same stuff on there, and you could see the layer of it between the gpu and the heatsink. I tried heating it up, but it still wouldn't budge, I resorted to a screwdriver, since I would never use the card, so I wouldn't mind if it wrecked the card, and it tore the gpu right off the pcb. If this is the same sort of stuff, I wouldn't try it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hockeyrcks9901 Posted November 12, 2005 Posted November 12, 2005 Well, when I used to have an old voodoo card I just slowly and gently applied more force....eventually it came off. But I didn't need that card and just wanted to have fun with it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitelightning Posted November 12, 2005 Posted November 12, 2005 I use a hair dryer on high....heats up the hs and makes the paste gooey...then it just twists off....works everytime. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
airman Posted November 12, 2005 Posted November 12, 2005 I use a hair dryer on high....heats up the hs and makes the paste gooey...then it just twists off....works everytime. 576605[/snapback] x2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
IUMaestro Posted November 15, 2005 Posted November 15, 2005 or then there's freezing it, making the epoxy so brittle it just snaps off... but that's dangerous cause components can feel the same effect... if you freeze, twist, don't pull Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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